At the edge of an immense forest stood the silhouette of a person, gazing at the vast lands in front of him. Stretching as far as the eye could see, an endless expanse of ice blanketed this land—a frozen canvas untouched by humans.

The chilling breeze tickled his face as he basked in the rare occurrence of the sun above. After several months of being unable to feel the sun's touch, this was extremely refreshing. Not only that, but the change in climate overall was noticeable. The snow was still everywhere, but he felt the difference.

This was the northernmost part of the Vanaras Kingdom. A place abandoned by most. People from the north can't pass through the forest filled with aborigines, while the aborigines are aware that they would be slaughtered at sight.

On the other hand, people from the south also don't have a reason to travel to this place. Only a handful did so. The weak and slow are intercepted in the forest, while the strong ones are aware of the north's barrenness and wouldn't waste their time going there.

Even the Vanaras Kingdom didn't regard this place very well. Only some colonial villages managed to live there, but even those were small in number. Some of them unified and created small cities, while others were destroyed over time in these adverse surroundings.

'Just like my village was,' thought Illyan as he took his first steps into the Vanaras Kingdom after over ten years. However, no feeling of familiarity or nostalgia came to him. He didn't recognize the place as he never left his village. Back then, Illyan was a mere peasant who was destined to live his entire time in the village if nothing drastic happened.

He would work in the field every day, find a neighbor's daughter, take her as a wife, have children, all while hoping that none of them would die in their infancy. And just trying to survive overall. This is what Illyan would do if 'that' incident didn't happen. He felt a little conflicted about it as he couldn't even imagine living like that now. He even despised the idea.

He could want to live in peace all he wanted, but the problems would still get to him in the end, so why bother? He would rather get stronger so that he doesn't need to feel the loss anymore.

With light steps, he continued on his way with the only goal being the south. But then he thought about something and stopped. He sighed and looked at some easily recognizable landmarks, trying to orient himself a bit before steering away from his original direction…

…

Looking for the place he was looking for was hard, and it took him over a month to get there. But he didn't care. Time was something he didn't lack, and he needed to find this place for the peace of his mind.

During the way, he noticed some villages from afar but kept his distance as he was not prepared to talk with the people. He probably wasn't even interested. Instead, his eyes were drawn only towards the place he was looking for the entire time.

Standing at the threshold of the ruined village, his cold eyes finally softened. At first, he couldn't bring himself to make even one step inside, but after hesitating for a bit, he forcefully made his first step inside the village where he was born.

Going through the places he knew since his childhood, he felt estranged by how different everything was. And it isn't surprising considering how everything was destroyed. Most of the buildings didn't stand anymore. Some of them were trampled upon by wendigos, while others fell because of no maintenance over the years. Wood rotted, and snow accumulated on the roofs.

Unfortunately, the happy memories that he had in this place were blurry a long time ago. The only vivid memories of this place were of that 'day'. Soon, his steps took him to their house. It was in an even worse state than he remembered. It was just ruined by now, and the fields surrounding it already disappeared as if the place was never cultivated.

Finally, some memories of him playing with his brothers came to his mind. The careless days without thinking whether they will be able to survive the next day. He also remembered the father and mother's smiles… But not face. Those were still blurry.

At this moment, he felt profound loneliness in his heart. But surprisingly, it didn't hurt. It couldn't hurt anymore. He felt spent after all this time. Maybe his mental state was just too weak. He couldn't tell.

He looked around if there was something worth salvaging but nothing remained. With a sigh, he turned around and ventured further into the village. After walking for some time, his feet took him to another familiar building.

The memories of sitting on the warm chair while listening to all kinds of stories from granny flooded his mind. This was also the place where he learned his herbology from. He wondered if some of the tools there were still usable. It would save him a lot of effort. And so, he came before the doors of her house.

Surprisingly, while the roof seemed to fall through because of the brunt of the snow, it was still standing. Thanks to that, he could easily enter the house.

Creak

Crack

As he tried to open the doors, the hinges loosened, and the entire door fell on the ground. Illyan ignored it as he entered the house and looked around.

Because of the hole in the roof, most of the room was filled with snow. However, the stains of blood that darkened over the years were still there. However, the body wasn't there anymore.

"Haah…" Illyan sighed as he started looking for anything useful. Soon, he found the cauldron the granny was using back then. Unfortunately, it was already rusty and thus useless for him. But soon, he found some glasses he could use. Although they were weathered down, he judged that they could still be used. Then he went to one of the chests that granny had next to her bed.

The chest had a lock but with one swift hit, it fell off. When he opened the chest, he finally found something interesting. 'Are those books?' Several books were neatly piled up inside, covered in cloth and protected from the weather. Illyan took out one carefully and opened it.

Inside of it, he found some notes and images of all kinds of herbs. Unfortunately, he couldn't understand. He learned a little about the Vanaras writing back then, but he didn't remember anymore. However, seeing it being in such a good state was definitely good news for him.

It didn't take long before he took everything useful and then left the house. He looked into other houses as well and took whatever he could use. And when he noticed some of the clothes that the villagers were holding onto, he remembered that this was not the north where everyone just draped random furs over their bodies.

If he wore something like that in some cities, he would probably be too suspicious and stand out in a very bad way. At this moment, he wore the black robe that hid his body but wearing something normal was more desirable.

He threw away the makeshift clothing he had and started to take on the peasant clothes. When he finally was done, he felt his skin being caressed comfortably and closed his eyes. The peasant clothing was rough and bad but that was compared to people of better standing in the south. However, people in

the north never made their clothes fancy or comfortable. The only purpose they had was to warm you up so you don't die.

This clothing was much more inferior than the piece of fur he wore, but that didn't matter to him as this little cold was nothing to him. The further south he went the less cold it was. Then he even found shoes and took them on. Finally, after several months of running inside the forest, he felt like he was a member of civilized humans once again.

Once everything was done, he chose to visit one last place. Farther from the village at the edge of a small forest, there were two dug holes, now filled with snow. When he found them, he stared at them in silence. After a while, he took a rusty shovel that he got along the way and started to take the snow out of it. It was quite hard as his left hand was still gone from the wrist, but he managed somehow.

After the snow was gone, he started to fill it up with dirt. This took him several hours of hard work, but he didn't care as the only thing he focused on was the graves of his parents. When he was done, he took several big rocks and put them on those graves and engraved them with Theras language symbols that meant 'Mother' and 'Father' and underneath the symbols for their names.

Then, he got up and intended to leave. But he stopped. In the end, he turned back and brought another five big rocks that were piled next to the two graves. On the first big rock, he wrote a symbol for 'Oldest Brother' and underneath it he wrote 'Evan'. The most caring older brother who wanted the best for his brothers.

On the second big rock, he wrote a symbol for 'Second Brother' and underneath it he wrote 'Olen'. The brother who always alleviated the gloomy atmosphere to not burden the hearts of his family and acted as the family clown…

The next rock was dedicated to Granny Meddie who wasn't his blood relative but definitely was his family. She showed him the joys of learning and the feeling of accomplishment after creating something from your own hands. She also taught him how big this world was and awakened his adventurous spirit.

The next rock was dedicated to Degres who was like a father to him after he lost everyone and taught him how to enjoy living life even in the darkest times. Smiling in the face of danger, he showed Illyan what bravery was.

And the last one… Was dedicated to none other than Kaoran who was like his grandfather and who taught him how to accept himself. The man who taught him how small he was and how big the world was and what he could achieve if he used his gift to its fullest potential. None of the present had a proper funeral except Kaoran. They deserved at least this much respect and dignity.

Once Illyan was done, he kneeled down on one of his knees and stared at those graves. Maybe no one will remember them in the next 50 years, let alone much later. But he will. They are the ones who shaped him to who he was at this moment. He can't forget as forgetting would mean that he forgot himself.

However, he didn't make the grave for Zers as he hoped for his survival. While Zers wasn't as tough as Illyan was, he was still a northerner who went through many hardships. He severed his limb and threw him out of the Frozen Worm because he believed that Zers could survive this much. 'Zers… I hope you are doing well…'

…

After this, he left the village and once again embarked on the way. This time, there was nothing holding him back. He left everything behind. Zers was beyond the sea if he survived. The Thearas clan was destroyed, and all of the wendigos died. There was nothing worth it for Illyan to stay there.

The only direction where he can go right now is… South. To the south. To a place where civilization thrived. He would meet new people, learn new knowledge, and see the wonders of the world. He wouldn't be obscured by a false sense of morality and justice. Illyan would do only what he wanted to do. He would live his life to the fullest. This would be his new beginning....